Dec. 22, 2010 — The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) today announced that eight Toyota, Lexus and Scion vehicles were among 66 winners of Top Safety Pick awards for 2011. Responding to the announcement, Toyota said it “is pleased to have received eight IIHS Top Safety Picks for 2011, which we believe is reflective of our ongoing commitment to developing safe and reliable vehicles for our customers.” The eight winners are: Toyota Avalon, Corolla, Highlander, Sienna and Venza; Lexus RX, and Scion tC and xB. Only two automakers had more winners: Hyundai/Kia and Volkswagen/Audi each had nine. Sienna was the only minivan to make the list. Top Safety Pick awards recognize vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, rollover and rear crashes based on good ratings in IIHS tests. Winners also must have available electronic stability control, a crash avoidance feature that significantly reduces crash risk.

courtesy of pressroom.toyota.com

2011 Lexus IS F

Sharper handling, new high-tech features and a cool new all-white interior lead the list of improvements and changes for Lexus’s ultra-high-performance IS F for 2010.

Limited slip differential

As announced at the 2009 Frankfurt motor show, the full-blooded sports saloon gains the benefit of a new limited slip differential. Fitted as standard, it gives the IS F significantly better traction and stability in high-speed cornering: Lexus test engineers were able to improve the car’s lap time around the Fuji International Speedway by a full two seconds.The Torsen unit is robust enough to handle the 505Nm delivered by the IS F’s 5.0-litre V8 engine, automatically directing drive torque to the rear wheel with the most grip. Out-and-out performance is unchanged, with the IS F capableof nought to 62mph acceleration in 4.8 seconds and a top speed (electronically limited) of 168mph.

HDDsatellite navigation

In keeping with Lexus’s reputation for effective use of advanced technologies, the IS F is fitted with a new satellite navigation system, powered by a 40GB hard disc drive (HDD). It is one of the fastest-responding and most accurate guidance systems on the market, giving full-map coverage across Europe, with automatic links to local traffic information data to ensure efficient route planning.The HDD also provides an on-board ”sound library” function, with 10GB of disc space available for owners to store tracks from CD – space enough for around 2,000 songs.

DABaudio

The tuner in the IS F’s 14-speaker Mark Levinson 5.1 surround sound system has been upgraded to receive DAB digital broadcasts and a USB port has been added (in addition to the Aux-in jack), to allow for fully integrated connection of portable digital music players.New leather interior and alloy wheel optionsIS F can be ordered with a new white leather interior in place of the standard black finish and with new mesh-design 19-inch alloy wheels instead of the standard 10-spoke design. Both are no-cost options.

Courtesy of distrocars.com